Defend the Press

Koch-Funded Franklin Center "Watchdogs" Infiltrate State Capitols

As newsrooms across the country have cut staff reporters -- due in part to slipping ad revenue and corporate media conglomeration -- the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity has rushed to fill the gap, as the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) has documented. The Franklin Center has 40 state news websites, with reporters in 34 states so far. Its reporters have received state house press credentials and its stories appear as news in mainstream print newspapers in each state without alerting readers to the heavy right-wing bias of the Franklin-related publications.

Clear Channel Stands Behind Limbaugh

After news of Rush Limbaugh's misogynistic insults towards Georgetown Law Student Sandra Fluke hit the airwaves, Ultra Violet, a non-profit online community "fighting to expand women's rights and combat sexism," launched an online petition targeting Limbaugh's advertisers. Limbaugh, the same man who was stopped at an airport for carrying illicit bottles of Viagra on a trip to the Dominican Republic, called Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" after she testified before Congress arguing for the importance of contraception coverage by universities and employers, regardless of their religious affiliation. Adding fuel to fire, Limbaugh demanded that Fluke release tapes of her having sex to the public in exchange for contraception coverage.

The Day Egypt Disappeared

On February 11, 2011, after 30 years of dictatorship, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak announced he was stepping down. As ancient pharaohs slumbered inside, a crowd of over a million surrounded the rose-colored Cairo Museum setting off fireworks and jumping for joy as they peacefully forced a modern pharaoh to flee. This hopeful moment will be studied for years, and no topic will be more hotly debated than the role of social media in the uprising.

Pages

Subscribe to Defend the Press